On Futurology

If history studies our past and social sciences study our present, what is the study of our future? Future(s) Studies (colloquially called "future(s)" by many of the field's practitioners) is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to hypothesize the possible, probable, preferable, or alternative future(s).

One of the fundamental assumptions in future(s) studies is that the future is plural rather than singular, that is, that it consists of alternative future(s) of varying degrees of likelihood but that it is impossible in principle to say with certainty which one will occur.

I am a person who most likely has bipolar or a depression which comes and goes. The doctors haven't figured it out yet.

But I have some very serious suicidal thoughts, and the only thing stopping me from doing it is what I read on this subreddit. It's like the best anti suicide reading in the world.

Why the fuck should I kill myself when all these wonderful things might happen in my lifetime. And the only thing I have to do is to be alive in order to see it happen. It's quite amazing when I think about it.

I made this post to say thank you to everyone who is active in this subreddit! I love reading all about how the future might become.

Psychiatrists are mostly booked up. Many dont know this but Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners can also prescribe medication and do counseling (though I would see a psychologist for counseling separately since most psychiatrists/psych NPs only do medication management)

Actually, the best help I got was from a psychologist. The important thing was that I felt we were both on the same team, and fighting the same enemy. There wasn't any sense that he was battling me to get me better for my own good and despite my own stupid self, which is a feeling that other professionals had overwhelmingly given me. He didn't act like I was lying all the time.

My mom is also a bipolar bear (never seen anyone else call themselves that, she uses it all the time though). This was hugely hugely hugely important for her. She found someone competent who she could just talk to endlessly, and they made all the difference.

And then she moved to the other side of the country - she's having to start all over with finding someone great, and it's been total balls.

What? You're saying very stupid things. I was born in the 1970s and quite a lot of the futuristic stuff I saw on TV shows is now real technology people use every day. Being able to get full information on a person or country by typing their name into a big computer that knows everything; handheld computers that do sci-fy things; facial recognition; typing in something you want to buy into a computer and it just gets delivered without you needing to talk to someone; electronics that talk to you; locks you can activate remotely.

All sorts of spy-fi high-tech stuff, like portable motion sensors, miniature cameras, watch communicators, infra-red cameras and goodness knows what else, all that has become something you can easily buy. The goods Q was handing out when I was a kid are now things you can get on Amazon today.

Unless the world as we know it collapses, then the future is going to be just as sci-fi to kids now as now is to kids from 40 years ago.

Lightspeed transfer of information which takes the shape of electrical voltages that represent 1s and 0s. A century ago, thinking about this might have gotten laughed at, now it is our reality.

Humans, for the first time, have the capacity to be fully linked together. The concept of physical borders is now outdated. I can't wait to see what happens in the next 5-50 years, especially once we link our brains to computers... which I think will be the start of the Singularity.

I keep talking to people about an idea that I have, but mostly they look at me funny.

I think the 'internet' is not going to last too long in its present form - I think it will be splintered off into private internets, similar but different to what TOR or Silk Road is, for example. Unfortunately too many old grey men in government are learning that the internet can deliver power, and they are beginning to 'legislate' against this democratisation of information, and thus the internet becomes less than it was.

The other big issue is the signal-to-noise ration of information, and data-rot. Both of these problems are causing the internet to lose its usefulness. So either the front-end interface (search engine for example) needs to improve dramatically, or we will divide the internet up. The influx of apps a few years ago was the market almost trying to correct itself with respect to this problem, however because of the nature of Apple's ecosystem I don't think it was that successful.

Change is coming, and it's going to be good, it's going to be useful, and it's going to be unexpected. I can't wait.

As I child growing up in the early 80s I dreamed of three things. 1) A device that could tell you the answer to anything, ever, whenever you wanted. 2) A machine that could make any toy you could imagine at a touch of the button, and 3) something else, that I've since forgotten.

Internet and 3d printers, that's pretty much 2 out of 3, if I could remember what the 3rd one was we'd be in for a full house!

Edit: I might add, I've got many new things I'm excited about these days. When humans apply ourselves in the right way, we can do some bloody wonderful things.

Learn to live with your rhythms. You may be down and low for a month or two but when you are up you can shine like no other and achieve great things; and when it is time to lay low for a while, try and plan for it rather than becoming self destructive. Most of all try and do something to bring the robot age into the mainstream in your lifetime.

1) LITHIUM FUCKING CARBONATE. NO SERIOUSLY. ASK YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU CAN TRY IT. PM ME IF NECESSARY. THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS AND NO I WILL NOT STOP SCREAMING UNTIL YOU DO SOMETHING TO MAKE YOUR BRAIN STOP ATTACKING ITSELF.

2) There's stuff you can enjoy in the world today, and even more so if you get your brain to stop attacking itself.

Lithium orotate is a viable alternative and has no side effects that I'm aware of, unlike carbonate. That being said, I'm not sure it's as effective as lithium carbonate for treating bipolar. Infact it's almost for sure not as effective, but no side effects is legit.

Um. No. You don't just go on Lithium as a just-in-case. It doesn't work for everyone, it's fucking toxic, and if you're not ready for it, it only works really well once. So if you're going to drop it because you're fine now and you haven't addressed underlying issues with drug compliance, then you've lost that medication forever, because going back on it is going to be marginally effective at best.

I strongly agree, that if you haven't evaluated Lithium Carbonate, consider it. In particular if you have any family history of mental illness. My wife takes it and finds it effective with very, very few side effects. As a bonus it is cheap. It's not a miracle, but we are very, very grateful we found it when we did.

At a controlled, therapeutic dosage you should see minimal side-effects. It fuzzes your head slightly compared to taking nothing, but it's a whole lot better than nothing in terms of actual mood stabilization.

Better than nothing, but quite honestly there's a good chance that therapy and various methods of keeping calm and stable would work for the OP. I'm bipolar type II, it mostly manifests as severe depression and I've been unmedicated for years because we found a routine that keeps me stable and well.

The absolute core of my entire management programme is a regular bedtime. That's the foundation of everything and has turned out to be absolutely crucial to everything else. I also practice good sleep hygiene: computer off an hour before bed, nothing stimulating in the evenings and so on. I only have caffeine first thing in the morning. The actual bedtime doesn't matter, as long as it's the same every night, though I can be a few hours late to bed at weekends.

Now, from this it's obvious that my BPT2 is very manageable, though it did lead to me being hospitalised. If I did need medication, having a regular bedtime would still be absolutely key to keeping dosage to a minimum. The difference between me before that good therapist and me after is like night and day. We tried a range of approaches but it turned out that sleep was the big thing, as before that I'd been on no fixed sleep schedule at all - lots of sleep, but not regular sleep at a set time. It's much easier, when depressed, to make yourself go to bed than to make yourself get up, ime.

Now, regarding meds, I'd say if you're on meds for goodness' sake stay on them. I'd never ever advise anyone to come off their prescribed medicine until told. But when someone is first getting a handle on this condition, I think it's good to know that meds aren't actually inevitable, and shouldn't be the first resort.

As for hospitalisation being scary, it's scary because it's new, but actually it's deeply boring - and it's meant to be. It's a quiet place with a fixed routine and with staff who want to keep things as dull as they can - great for a healing mind, even if the urge to keep things quiet is largely driven by self-interest. It's not a place to make friends, but it is a break from everything outside and a quiet place to get your head together. The absolute worst thing about it is not knowing when you'll be cleared to leave, but for the rest it's largely like a waiting room with bedrooms and a cafeteria. I hope this reassures you both in case it gets necessary to get inpatient treatment.

It is certainly up to me if I decide to mention something to someone for them to investigate. If I gave them a bad lead and their psychiatrist ended up prescribing them something which hurt them, I would be broken.

I may have phrased that poorly. A decent psychiatrist is likely to be much, much better informed on the risks vs reward of lithium (and the dozen or so other potential bipolar drugs) than anyone you will meet here on reddit.

If you think that your friend has bipolar disorder, then you would likely be more successful addressing that part of it with your friend, to help them to become aware of your concerns, and if you can at that point suggest they seek professional help. Trying to pick which (if any) medication your friend may or may not need should definitely be left to mental health professionals. It is complex and is treated on a case-by-case basis.

Not posted in this sub before (Although I am a regular lurker) But I have to say this.

I've been there my friend.

I'm twenty seven years old and I've had a disabling health problem which has kept me living a half life since I was seven. Through this I developed Major Depressive Disorder, which has come in waves since I was a teenager.

Let me tell you, fighting your brain chemistry is the hardest battle you will ever have to face. Once you overcome this and you will, you will be able to accomplish anything.

You're already on the right path; you've realised there's so much to live for, so much opportunity in the world, so much possibility in the future, and all you have to do is be here to see it.

The next step on this path is seeking correct treatment and this can be a bumpy path in and of itself, you will probobly try many medications before you find one that works, and talk to many different medical professionals; this is fine. Every medication that fails to work, or has side effects too severe, Every person you talk to that dosn't understand or is unable to ascertain what's wrong is a step closer, a step further along that path to finding what you need to beat this.

That final step on this long and bumpy road? Well, that's going to be the easiest of all as you get to choose the path you take from then on, the sky is your limit and you'll have regrown your wings.

I'll leave you with both my favourite poem which has got me through some dark days Invictus, and an apology for the rather long and soppy wall of text.

I'm twenty seven years old and I've had a disabling health problem which has kept me living a half life since I was seven.

Hey I don't mean to judge you here or anything, and I understand the debilitating effects of mental illness far too well from personal experience, but if you are measuring your life against others or you are using material success as a measurement, then it's not a good way to look at things.

Try to focus on what you like, what's important to you, what gives your life meaning. If that means you haven't travelled the world or made 1000 friends on facebook, well so what? Sometimes surviving another day is a heroic achievement in itself.

It might look like half a life compared to others, it might feel like half a life, but it's not - it's exactly one life, not worth any more or less than any other. Don't forget that.

Plus plagiarized quotes for good measure:

To the world you might be just one person, but you might mean the world to one person (also note that dogs count as people here.)

Thank you for your words, I'll say I am comfortable albeit not entirely happy with my existence, my description of half life was more of as other people might view it than my own personal opinion; i am if not content, accepting. I do what I can to the best of my ability, and that's all anyone can do in life, do as much as you can, as often as you can, as well as you can. Life is experience, and I plan on experiencing the ever loving hell out of it. ;)

DUDE!!!! You can be A PART OF IT! I'm not even kidding. You may need medication or whatever other people are saying, but what can really turn you around is a healthy dose of "I'M CREATING THE FUTURE."

I can't say I was exactly in your boat, but there was a time where I thought what do I matter? How am I significant? Well, I decided my goal in life was to get to a point where I was doing something significant. It didn't matter what it was. I just had to somehow make the world turn. I wanted to be a part of something that was on the edge of technology. It took a while, but now I'm doing it.

Can you imagine being an architect of Amazon Cloud Services? Or the Google Cloud? Learn home automation and start an empire that outfits new neighborhoods with FUTURE TECH! Learn some AI rpogramming and join the team at Boston Dynamics! NASA may be a stretch since the funding isn't there, but what about SpaceX? Be a part of their team!

You can fucking do it. No stipulations. YOU CAN. Go get a certification in network engineering or even virtualization. LEARN LEARN LEARN. It may take a while, but you can get there I promise you. When you get there, you're on top of the world.

i cant really describe how it changes you, but it just does. being one of the people building the future, is infinitely more fulfilling than reading about the future.

if reading this subreddit prevents you from killing yourself, helping build the future will make you genuinely happy. you'll meet people who are as passionate about futurology as you are, and rather than them just being random redditors, they will be people who have the skills and knowledge that is neccesary to actually contribute to humanity and change the future.

We all don't hv to be Teslas. I sure as hell am not. Just learning and sharing some of the great ideas on this subreddit and elsewhere is a HUGE part of the solution and process. The world needs people like you who are open minded enough to consider new ideas. So just keep rockin dude.

I know the feeling. Getting up in the morning sucks. Making myself breakfast, meh, what's the point. Then I slurp down into the car and drive to work.

Then I step into the door. And I am working on a project that will impact millions of people. My team members rely on me, and millions of dollars of product development rely on my ability to manage my team.

And so I have energy for another day. I have a reason to be, by right of having something to do.

The day to day is all you have friend. So spend today, and tomorrow trying to figure out why you feel bad, or why you dont have energy.

I comment to you cause I feel like im in a boat very similar to your own, and the sub has been VERY helpful with focusing on a better future for myself and others.

After giving it a couple years of thought, i've come to thw conclusion that my job is why im so depressed and unhappy, and how that was tied to a lack of proper nutrition and poor physical health, aswell as it killing my social life.

But bills need to be paid... So i thought what bills need to be paid. What do I need to own. Water, electric, car, food, phone.

I can grow my own food with aquaponics, i can harvest the suns light with solar panels, and depending on precipitation i can collect and recycle water.

Phone bill, and the supplies to build everything, and a place to keep it all, is what I need. I know there is more I can do to use less money, so i dont have to work so much, so I can really spend some time to find what I Love doing.

But until i get to that point, i have to accumulate funds, and work on myself today so I can be a better person tomorrow.

Be relentless in helping yourself. Eat a whole food diet and no crap, exercise 6 days a week, take probiotics (many of these mental issues are due to gut biome issues). Look into S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) -I had overpowering anxiety until I found I had S.A.D. and now sitting in front of a lightbox for 30mins every morning in winter times has cured me of all anxiety. Research, research, research then apply, apply, apply. You can beat it!

That's amusing as your claims of "pseudoscience" are backed up with scientific study which you then claim aren't all "good science". You make a blanket assumption your studies are better than mine based on a somewhat religious belief of medicine over natural alternatives. I myself am big into science and futurology. I don't do a damn thing unless it's backed by rigorous study.. I'm not some homeopathy douche by any means.

sorry, but no. and saying so makes you sound like a homeopathy douche ;P

critical thinking is a skill, a tool box one develops to determine good info from bad. its not just accepting that someone "has studies" because studies can be cherry picked for results, they can be biased, unblinded, uncontrolled, paid for by people selling the products, etc.

its understanding that people do have cognitive biases and actively working around those biases to uncover whats true, and whats woo.

Glad you brought that up. I've never had severe depression, but it runs in my family. Have had health problems my whole life, and it was changing my diet, exercise, self-help, etc. that pulled me out of all my shit. Unfortunately a lot of this is dismissed as pseudo-science, and the AMA doesn't want people thinking there are cures outside of the doc's office.

How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

And, good luck with your bipolar and depression. My brother suffers from severe Paranoid Schizophrenia and I grew up with a mother who had a really severe depression. If you ever want to talk, even about arbitrary things, please dont hesite to PM me. Life is long as shit, but its full of wonders and we often dwell on the dark sides of life because they fill so much in our lives.

My mentor and favorite professor in college once told me this, and I think it is a powerful statement. "You're an idiot if you've never contemplated suicide, and a bigger one if you've gone through with it."

We all should realize our own mortality, and even our own insignificant-ness. The very incomprehensible chance that your own consciousness exists is testament that you should continue to live as long as you can. If you don't want to, the universe doesn't care. . . so why not give it the middle finger and keep going?

I use to be in that boat. This sub gave me some hope. It is one of the coolest time periods to be alive and we're better off than we've ever been as a species in a lot of ways and I want to see as much of the progress as I can no matter what bullshit I must endure.

Depressive realism is the proposition that people with depression actually have a more accurate perception of reality, specifically that they are less affected by positive illusions of illusory superiority, the Locus of Control and optimism bias. The concept refers to people with borderline or moderate depression, suggesting that while non-depressed people see things in an overly positive light and severely depressed people see things in overly negative light, the mildly discontented grey area in between in fact reflects the most accurate perception of reality.

about|✓autodeletes if comment score -1 or less.✓/u/jjshinobi can reply with '+remove' to trigger deletion.

I appreciate the raw honesty here. I know you've got a lot of people telling you things as a result, but I, for one, simply want to applaud you for the openness and vulnerability you have the bravery to express.

Glad to hear it's giving you some hope. One of the main reasons I post here so much is that I wish more people were as interested and excited about the amazing advances in science and technology as I am.

Awesome! The future is coming and is very exciting. Just don't get disappointed if it takes a little longer than you expect. It won't seem to arrive very quickly, but at some point you'll suddenly notice that things are very different.

Here are just a few things to look forward to in the next 5 - 50 years:

Nanotech revolution

Biotech revolution

The automation revolution

Renewable energy revolution

Virtual/augmented reality

And something I think/hope will happen: After the success of driverless cars and automated delivery drones, we will realise that we could do the same thing with small personal aircraft since they could move us around a lot easier and there would be no traffic jams. Imagine getting into something like this, selecting your destination on google maps on the touch screen, then taking off from your rooftop landing pad. And instead of going for a drive to clear your head, you could go fly around above the clouds for a while.

Theres plenty of awesome shit in the world RIGHT NOW, you don't even have to wait, dude. You ever been on a slip and slide? Fun as hell. Now do it drunk, and make it adult sized, BAM, something to live for.
Go skydiving, falling from great heights gives you a good perspective on life too, don't do it drunk though.

the only thing stopping me from doing it is what I read on this subreddit

... I know that's meant to be positive, but honestly, I'd be concerned - if this sub is all that stands between you and suicide, you should probably diversify your 'things worth living for' portfolio, so to speak. don't put all your eggs in one basket or whatever. don't get me wrong, this sub has some pretty cool stuff in it - but it's also just a subreddit.

Not an expert at all, but I do have a bachelor's in psych, so know I am not completely pulling this out of my ass.

Bipolar disorder is a two phase disorder. There is a depressive phase, and a manic phase. During the manic phase you would have tons of energy and feel like bouncing off the walls. During this stage is when sufferers of bipolar disorder kill themselves, because they know the depression is coming. If this sounds like you, there are drugs and therapy that helps quite a lot.

Depression does fluctuate, there may be days where you can't even get out of bed. It can get so bad, that when you do eventually come out of the depressive stage and start to feel better about yourself that you never ever want to go back to being depressed. This is the point where most depressive patients decide to kill themselves. If you fall under this category, and don't want to go back down, do as others have advised and GET HELP. There is no wonder cure, but that doesn't mean nothing can help you. I'm glad that you have reddit in general and that this subreddit makes you look positively at living, now translate that into feeling positive about YOUR life.

To sum all this up, I feel for you, and I want you to get help and get better. Psychological disorders are no laughing matter, you aren't crazy, and there is help out there for you.

Same here bro except the reason I never became suicidal throughout my entire episode of moderate to severe depression was knowing if I did I'd miss out on the exponential growth of human culture and technological advance unfolding before me.

Same here bro except the reason I never became suicidal throughout my entire episode of moderate to severe depression was knowing if I did I'd miss out on the exponential growth of human culture and technological advance unfolding before me.

It's great that this subreddit contributes to keeping you alive, i also have alot of bagage but i have a great friend and therapist that help me and make me discover such subreddits ive been on this only a month and i found your post, imagine all the things to discover that are so incredible, thank you for sharing and pm if you want to.

if you have some time and you find other sub-reddits that deal with future related stuff, or even future is now stuff please send me a pm so i can add them to a multi-reddit i made called techis www.reddit.com/user/i_give_you_gum/m/techis

The world looks dark now, but trust me, the bright side is just to come. Think about self driving cars, Humans on Mars, a 3-D printer that can print anything you want! Plenty of stuff to wait around for! On top of that, these developments are things that you can participate in and use! We're living in such an amazing time, no need to drop out now.

If you want to talk, feel free to send me a message. I've been through some crappy times, as I'm sure many others here have as well, and we all know how hopeless it may seem. Things will get better though.

I'm fortunate enough to have never been plagued by suicidal thoughts. That said, transhumanism/futurology has made me behave in a far more risk-averse way than I would have otherwise, were I living under the core assumption that the days of our years are threescore years and ten.

Just remember that changes will come but they will be incremental and subtle to begin with.

That people will claim nothing has changed like they do today, claims made on their smartphones via the internet over a social media site. If you ever lose hope about large positive changes, just stop and take stock of the state of the world today. 3d printing in its infancy, lab grown meat that could forever change industrial cattle farming, solar uptake rising and self drive cars. Those were just the ones that made headlines over the last year or so and most people won't realise the potential each holds.

We are always here if you need to vent but make sure you get help as we all want you around in this possible future.

I agree, it is the best anti-suicide in the world! This subreddit has made me go from a pessimist that thought we'd blow ourselves up to someone who thinks that we're gonna invent paradise for ourselves and things will be better than we can even imagine! :D

I can see where you are coming from. I'm more along the lines of "Suicide by sitting in my corner and withering away" -- It's kind of how I feel sometimes. This subreddit has also instilled a sense of hope and wonder in me. It has honestly lifted my spirits as well.

On the subject, I don't get what the point of life is. I don't get what the point of suicide is, either. I'm just a little peasant drone and I doubt I'd ever get to use any of the great technologies we'll we getting. Even moreso I doubt I'd ever see much of the world beyond the few towns around me.

I am a person who's been depressed and has been thinking for so long that I don't really get anything, or how to do anything. It's so awkward and weird.

In the case of you not having manic episodes, just intermittent depression, try supplementing extra vitamin d. My girlfriend battled depression for years before she had a blood work come back showing she has extremely low natural levels of vitamin d. Especially during winters or when working indoors (and spending leisure time on reddit) it can be hard to get the amounts that the body needs.

The secret to happiness is not to live in the past or the future, but to live in the present. I'm not a therapist, and I can't instill any insight in you if you don't feel the way I am right now, which I totally understand, my friend! Listen to /u/LouisWinthorpIII's advice and get a competent psychiatrist!

OP,
I don't have time to write a longer comment but want you to know you're not alone. I'm 40 and suicidal thoughts lurk in my head on a daily basis. Pondering the future (and /r/futurology) is one of the very few (if only) thing that makes me the slightest bit stabilized.

Course.. i still want the average human-being to "step up" their game and start making smarter decisions... so that's going to continue to disappoint me I'm sure.

I completely agree with you. I am also bipolar and have a chronic illness. I hope to have my consciousness uploaded to the interwebs before I die so I can get rid of this useless body. I'm ok with having bad mood swings if I'm not always in pain. And as others have said, a good psychiatrist makes all the difference in the world.

Hey! I've got the same deal going on. so, the thoughts aren't actually real, aka everyone who has been talked down from suicide was thankful that they didnt do it. so once you realize these thoughts are separate from what you want, it becomes a little easier to "divorce" yourself from them, if you know what I mean. thought that might help for a start.

also we both have the exact same primary motivations for staying alive, curiosity and excitement. wonder how many more there are like us...

THANK YOU!!!!! I happen to spend a little time in r/suicidewatch ... and my GO TO thing is working to create a fire in people over these things. It is a fucking BRILLIANT time to be alive ... and YES we want to see these things!

SECOND:

I happen to go into existential funks as well over these things ... how life is finite yadda ya. Its crap, so as a human species we do what we can to FIX that.

My current solution is daily research, tons of emails, doing what I can to learn more about the forward-most thinking in a given field ( phys.org, genomeweb.com, medgadget.com )

Longer term is to find a project that we can use to legitimately put HARD FUCKING SCIENCE DOWN to extend out lives and be healthier for a ReallyLongAssTime™

Also I'd recommend checking out Alcor, as its currently our best backup plan :D

I implore you to check out these documentaries, they changed my entire outlook - giving me hope for the future as well as helping me understand the actual reasons for my depression. As Jiddu Krishnamurti said, "It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

Probably 90% of these dream technologies will not come to pass at the level of saturation and ease-of-use that the headlines generally advertise for at least a century, and you'd better believe that life-extension will be kept to the wealthiest exclusively (inb4 "but we can't keep everyone immortal because overpopulation" excuse).

Better to find reasons why the now is a good now, and create positive change in your own life.

I'm Bipolar and also have chronic depression. I've dealt with suicidal depression since the age of 6, and do you know what managed to really make me stay alive?

Working.

Working, doing a shitty job, something to take up my time and keep me from wasting it watching game streamers or playing League, and you know what ended up happening?

I made friends, I found a girlfriend who I love, and my life is going in a better direction.

Don't wait for the world to change around you. Change yourself, or when the world does change, it still won't give you shit, because you contributed nothing to that positive outcome.

There are no wrong reasons to stay alive. There are just endless reasons to want to live. If the thought of a brighter tomorrow makes him get up in the morning that is a great thing. Of course there is more to life, but any one of those countless things is enough to experience happiness and fill a desire to experience and live.

You've convinced me. I'm sure in my own zeal for survival, I've made the mistake of ignoring the efficacy of other strategies for other people.

:/ Still, I don't think it is psychologically healthy to use the hope for a future you might not live to see as more than a temporary booster. It did little to encourage action for me, and simply made me stick to the courses of action least likely to put me under stress.

In fact it was stress and the crucible of action that I needed to really learn to be a happy and mentally healthy adult. I guess I do not want to deny that to OP, simply to make him feel better about his survival strategy in the short-term.